Efficacité d’un affichage nutritionnel en épicerie sociale, couplé ou non avec des ateliers de prévention en nutrition.

Abstract

Introduction: Social grocery stores are places that, through their primary objective, receive members of the public facing food insecurity and, consequently, health problems such as chronic diseases and obesity [3]. In this context of social inequalities and with a view to meeting a public health objective, the deployment of actions and tools adapted to these populations within social grocery stores was initiated following the PrévAlim project [4], which is primarily oriented toward supporting volunteers and professionals in these places.

Purpose of the research: In order to improve the nutritional balance of beneficiaries, it was planned to display a nutritional logo on the shelves of seven social grocery stores in the Paris region and to measure the impact on its understanding and on eating behavior, associated or not with prevention workshops (cooking workshops, adapted physical activity workshops). It was chosen to display two logos based on interviews carried out prior to the experiment with the various social grocery store stakeholders: the Nutri-Top in four social grocery stores, a logo created specifically for the study; and the Nutri-Score in the other three, a nutritional information system adopted in France since 2017 [5]. A flash self-questionnaire was offered to beneficiaries when the experiment was set up (n=131) and then at the end of it (n=86), i.e., at three months. Volunteers (n=30) also answered a questionnaire at the end of the experiment.

Results: The effectiveness at three months of a nutritional logo, whatever it may be, appears appreciable in terms of its understanding and its usefulness, as well as the choices and behaviors of the beneficiaries. But the results are more marked when the display is coupled with workshops: an average perceived improvement in diet of 53.2% for beneficiaries who participated in the workshops (n=37) vs. 33.5% for those who did not participate in the workshops (n=49).

Conclusion: To be effective, the implementation of a nutritional logo within a social grocery store should be combined with the proposal of prevention workshops and the training of volunteers given the importance of their role in support in the aisles (individual influences, age, level of injunction, "mood," etc.).